Story Highlights

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Colts enter the 2019 NFL Draft with needs, but nothing gigantic. Nothing glaring. That means we could be in for some fun later this week.

The Colts have needs, let’s not be ridiculous, but nothing enormous. Not anymore. That’s what the offseason additions of Justin Houston and Devin Funchess did. Houston is a pass-rushing defensive end, Funchess a large receiver with upside. Those were the team’s most obvious holes after its 10-6 season of 2018, and general manager Chris Ballard addressed them in free agency.

That means Ballard is free in the draft to do what he does best. And what he does best is get weird.

Being weird, being Ballard, he can do something risky like use an early second-round pick – No. 36 overall – on a small-school linebacker, a player none of us have heard of. Ballard did that a year ago and it landed the Colts the defensive superstar this franchise has lacked since Robert Mathis was at his healthiest and most destructive. It landed South Carolina State’s Darius Leonard.

Not done being weird, not done being Ballard, he can use the very next pick to draft a duplicate of his earlier selection, another guard, this one from Auburn. Turns out, as Ballard and his staff had projected, Braden Smith had some position versatility. Turns out, with the No. 37 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Colts’ endless search for a right tackle ended.

Those are just the first three players Ballard chose in 2018. He stayed weird, though. Drafted a running back in the fourth round, and another running back in the fifth round. Nyheim Hines out of North Carolina State caught 63 passes last season, and Jordan Wilkins of Mississippi averaged 5.6 yards per carry (60 rushes, 336 yards).

A year ago Ballard entered the draft in a similar position to this year, albeit for the opposite reason. Last year the team had so many needs, he couldn’t miss. Draft anything but a quarterback, and what do you know? The Colts had a need there. This time around, the Colts go into the draft – Thursday to Saturday in Nashville – with so few absolute needs, they can’t miss. Draft the best player available, and as long as he doesn’t play quarterback or left guard (there are two inside linebackers in the 3-4 defense), the Colts can run him out there to compete for a starting spot, then a Pro Bowl spot.

That’s what the signings of Houston and Funchess did for Ballard. I know this, because I asked Ballard if receiver and defensive end are still as outsized a need as they were before free agency.

“No,” he said. “Not as much. That was the benefit of being able to get Devin and Justin. That takes a little pressure off you in the draft, where you’re not forced to take a position. Even if you have a need and don’t fill it now, it’s not the end of the world. We have time. I promise you, there’s time.”

Metcalf or Tillery or ...

Unmoored from mandates, free to pursue the best possible player no matter what it looks like – free to trust what is apparently an awesome scouting department – Ballard can do some more damage starting Thursday with the No. 26 overall pick. Well, maybe starting at 26. That’s a pick I wouldn’t be surprised to see the team trade. I was thinking that early in Ballard’s news conference Monday, when he paraphrased longtime NFL analyst Gil Brandt by endorsing his idea:

“Gil Brandt said somewhere mid first-round – I think he said the 17th pick – some (other team) would have that guy 70th on their board,” Ballard said, then agreed with Brandt. “(From) 15 all the way to 70, I think it’s a matter of flavor. Who do you like and who do you want?”

Ballard said that, and immediately I’m thinking he’ll satiate his desire to accumulate picks by trading the No. 26 overall selection for more in the 33-70 range. Then he said something else to confirm my suspicion, but before we go there, let’s talk about the kind of weirdness Ballard could do with his first pick this week, whether it’s No. 26 on Thursday or the No. 34 overall pick in the second round on Friday:

He could draft a defensive tackle everybody knows is too tall and angular to play with leverage in the NFL, Notre Dame’s 6-6, 295-pound Jerry Tillery. He could draft a receiver everybody knows was too unproductive in college, Ole Miss workout wonder D.J. Metcalf (6-3, 228, 4.33 seconds in the 40, just 67 catches in 21 college games).

Or maybe Ballard gets somebody else. This isn’t me advocating for Tillery or Metcalf. If the Colts’ prior front office was still around, sure, I’d be telling them who to draft. They needed all the help they could get. But Ballard? Nah, he doesn’t need me.

Besides, Tillery and Metcalf could be long gone before the Colts’ are finally on the clock in Nashville. Especially given that the Colts might not be on the clock as soon as we’re all thinking.

Back to that other thing Ballard was saying Monday, the thing he said that confirmed my suspicion that he could trade out of the first round for multiple selections in the 33-70 range. This was the end of the news conference. It was after the news conference, actually, which is when Ballard tends to do his best – his weirdest – commentary. Remember “the rivalry is back on,” Ballard’s walkaway comment after the Josh McDaniels news conference of February 2018?

Did Ballard tip hand about trade?

Ballard delivered another mic-drop ending on Monday, referencing his next news conference, the one he’ll give immediately after the Colts make their first pick in the 2019 draft.